Heather Dinich, the College Football Playoff reporter for ESPN, does not consider Alabama a lock for the Playoff, and explained why with Mike Greenberg and Paul Finebaum on “Get Up!” on Wednesday morning.

“I’m not going to say they’re a lock because we’re going to go to the offensive line,” Dinich said. “Bryce Young was sacked twice. Their run blocking was not good. The false starts were all over the place. And then you look at the wide receivers. Unable to get separation. When you look at Bryce Young and his passes, a bulk of them didn’t go to the wide receivers. They’ve got to get those things cleaned up. I’m confident they will clean up 15 penalties which was absolutely ridiculous.”

“Down the road, if they don’t clean those up, you’re talking about potential upsets,” Dinich said. “On the road against LSU, Tennessee. They’ve got to play Arkansas which looks really good. Mississippi State.”

Dinich has Alabama as the No. 3 in the country, and noted that the Playoff selection committee will eventually reward Alabama for the road victory.

“As of right now, they’ve got to clean it up before I say they’re a lock,” she said.

Alabama could be helped by the narrow win, especially if Texas does well the rest of the season, including possibly winning the Big 12.